GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS
ACADEMY: The Academy was established by the mpire’s first, First Leader, Traek the Elder, in 25AE. The Academy provides 12 years of formal, military education to the heirs of World and selected Continental Leaders. Attendance at the Academy provides the First Leader with hostages, as well as a means by which the Empire’s dominant culture is passed onto its next generation of leaders.
AE (After Empire): Measured from the creation of the Cross-Temporal Empire in 1884 CE (see CROSS-TEMPORAL EMPIRE).
AIRSHIPS: The predominant means of fast passenger transport on the Mainline before the First Trans-temporal War. A typical airship of the period was Her Majesty’s Airship Britannia, which had the following statistics:
Length: 804 feet
Diameter: 135 feet
Gas Volume: 7,063,000 cu. feet
Engines: Four 1200 hp diesel engines
Maximum Speed: 84.4 mph (136km/hr)
Lifting Gas Type : Hydrogen
Gross Lift: 242.2 tons
Useful Lift: 112.1 tons
Crew: 40 to 61
Passengers: 50-72
When re-configured as a troop carrier, which was capable of being undertaken in under 24 hours, HMA Britannia could carry 180 infantry and their equipment, or a troop of thirty mounted infantry including their mounts.
ALERT STATUS: The Etu Line’s security alert system. Created in 62 AE by Charles Clemhorn the system defines four levels of threats represented by four colors: yellow, orange, red, and crimson.
AUROCHS: A breed of early cattle now extinct on the Mainline. Aurochs stand about 5.7 feet tall, while domesticated cows are generally smaller than 4.9 feet. Aurochs have several features rarely seen in modern Mainline cattle, such as lyre-shaped, horns set at a forward angle, a pale stripe down the spine, and sexual dimorphism of coat color. Males are black with a pale eel stripe or finching down the spine, while females and calves are reddish (colors now still found in a few Mainline domesticated cattle breeds, such as Jersey cattle).
CLASSIFICATION: Time-lines are generally classified by Mainline ethnographers in terms of their predominant culture. This is generally derived from religious, geographic or language groupings. For example, Aryan-Transpacific refers to an offshoot off the main Aryan-Oriental. In Aryan-Oriental speakers of the Indo-Iranian group of languages, who in most lines moved south and west, migrating east into China. In the Aryan-Transpacific subsector, some continued east, finally settling in America with their horses and cattle, and either exterminating or integrating the Amerinds into their own culture. (also see HALLOW SCALE).
COUNCIL OF LEADERS: Supreme policymaking and administrative body of the Empire. It meets quarterly, or when summoned by the First Leader, and consists of World Leaders, or their deputies. It is often simply referred to as the Council.
CROSS-TEMPORAL EMPIRE: usually abbreviated to the C-TE. Established in 0 AE by Traek the Elder, former Historian of a Nayarit Research Station, and 2IC to Iapura who led the invasion of the Mainline. Its creation has remained a contentious issue between the two schools of Historical Inevitability, and Individual Causation ever since. The conquest of an entire line by only fifty-three people within a space of six months is worthy of note, regardless of whatever school of thought one seeks to justify it by. It was not until 17 AE that a second line was discovered and the term Cross-Temporal came into official use. After that the Empire expanded quickly, and by 46 AE included over 31 lines. Presently there are fifty-four World Leaders, although many more lines have been discovered (see EDICT).
The three dominant cultures of the C-TE are: British, Slavic, and Nayarit. The first two representing the dominant cultures of the Mainline immediately prior to the Nayarit invasion.
DECIMATION: the term used for the period 1 AE to 11 AE when a series of plagues devastated the Mainline, resulting in the death of over 65 percent of the world’s population. The plagues continued to occur until 27 AE with reducing force; until sufficient of the population had been inoculated with the KVirus to provide the necessary level of protection (see KELSOR VIRUS). The successful establishment of the Empire on so many worlds has often been linked to the plagues which accompany the arrival of Cross-Temporal forces on a line, and which leaves the indigenous inhabitants too weak to resist absorption into the Empire (see HRAFFOR).
EDICT: An order proclaimed by the Council of Leaders. The most important was that proclaimed in 21 AE, which prohibits contact with a line once it is determined to possess a technology level of 6.4, or higher, on the Hallow Scale (see HALLOW SCALE).
EMPIRE (see CROSS-TEMPORAL EMPIRE)
ETU: Home World of the Clemhorn family, it was seised to Charles Clemhorn in 48 AE in exchange for support provided to the then First Leader, Traek the Elder. The main indigenous civilization (the Northern Lakes League) had arisen around the Great Lakes of North America several thousand years previously, but had remained static for much of that time. However, as a result of the introduction of horses onto the American mainland about three hundred years previously by League merchants trading across the Atlantic, the League was no longer the static society it had once been.
FESTIVAL OF LIVAS: An indigenous celebration of thanksgiving for the harvest among the inhabitants of the Northern Lakes League on Etu.
GATE: see TRANS-TEMPORAL PORTAL
HALLOW SCALE: a formula used to establish a particular culture’s technology level against an open-ended scale. The formula measures over 200 variables, although quite often a key indicator may be used instead. For example: 6.4 on the Hallow Scale is generally taken to be the introduction of gunpowder.
HISTORICAL INEVITABILITY: a school of thought that holds that history is created by the effect of vast, impersonal cultural forces. In this theory the split between two lines is the result of the buildup over an extended period of a series of paradox that cannot be relieved in any other manner. (also see INDIVIDUAL CAUSATION).
HOWTACHI LINES: A collection of three time-lines discovered by Howard Howtachi which split off early in human prehistory when a genetic mutation resulted in a prevalence to female births (one male to every ten females). There is no real explanation as to why only three lines have developed since the split, given the period they have had to develop.
HRAFFOR: A Nayarit term which translates as ‘Soldiers of the Empire’. The title also signifies the right of leadership through conquest. They have often been compared to the Mainline Conquistadors of Spanish and South American history.
INDIVIDUAL CAUSATION: a school of thought which holds that history can be shaped by the effect of a decisive individual. In this theory the split of two lines is dependent on the actions of one special individual (also see HISTORICAL INEVITABILITY).
KELSOR VIRUS: also known as the KVirus, is a single stranded DNA synthetic virus created on the Nayarit time line during the early decades of the last Nayarit civil war. It was designed as a self-replicating nano-trap to provide enhanced resistance against viral attack vectors, a necessity once the Natrecyl Accord was breached and both sides escalated their use of biological weapons.
The KVirus does not seek to identify and attack cells infected by attacking viruses, it simply attracts, traps, and destroys those circulating in the blood stream. As a result, viruses in a latent/dormant phase within a cell are able to avoid detection. The consequence of this is the typhoid-Mary effect where those infected remained carriers, but fail to exhibit any symptoms of the disease. Upon contacting a virgin population without the protection of the KVirus the consequences can be devastating with death rates of over 99% having been recorded. The use of this as a strategy to facilitate integration of a new line into the C-TE became the accepted modus operandi during the early years of the C-TE’s establishment.
LEADER a translation of a Nayarit term, it is a designation of rank, and a title of respect used by any person to a superior. Within the Empire generally recognized civilian and military ranks are as follows:
- Civilian
- First Leader, Leader of the Empire.
- World Leader, the person controlling a time-line.
- Continental Leader, a person placed in charge of either a continent, or a major cultural grouping, on a line.
- Military
- Squad Leader, commands 9.Troop Leader, commands 30.
- Force Leader, commands 95.
- Group Leader, commands 300.
- Battlegroup Leader, commands 915 (Each Battlegroup is responsible for the recruitment, training and administration of its members, and over time tends to develop its own unique esprit de corps.)
- Corps Leader, commands 2750.
LINE: (see TIME LINE).
MAINLINE: (Romano — Balkan-Renaissance) the seat of the Cross-Temporal Empire. Research indicates that the pivotal creation point occurred in 1389AD when the Serbian King crushingly defeated the Turks at the Battle of Kosovo, thus firmly establishing Serbian independence and the potential for a Balkan based renaissance. Immediately prior to the conquering of the Mainline in 1884AD (0AE) by First Leader Traek (a military refugee from the Nayarit cataclysm) the Russian and British Empires were on the verge of outright war.
NAYARIT: Little is now known of this line, following the total destruction of its ecosphere in 0 AE after 80 years of total war. A war which involved both biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons; and is now popularly referred to within the C-TE as the Nayarit cataclysm. The first trans-temporal portal was developed on Nayarit at Chiqu, a small training and research facility in the western foothills off the mountains that define the eastern boundary of the great central plains of the North American continent. The only survivors of the line were believed to be the fifty-three Hraffor who followed Iapura through the portal.
One of the three dominant cultures of the Cross-Temporal Empire (the other two being Russian and English). Its influence has become steadily more diffused with time. The language appears to have affinities with Mainline Nahuatl languages.
POISON GAS: Two main variants are used across the C-TE:
Geranium: so-called because of its distinctive odor, which has been described as similar to scented geraniums, but sometimes called by the name of its discoverer Dr. Phillipa Lewisite (i.e. Lewisite). It is an organoarsenic compound, specifically an arsine, and was developed by the British for use after the last Sino-British war as a vesicant (blister agent) and lung irritant.
Nerve gas: Developed by the Nayarit, and brought with them when they invaded the Mainline the gas is an organophosphorus compound with the formula [(CH3)2CHO]CH3P(O)F. It is a colorless, odorless liquid with a relatively high volatility relative to similar nerve agents. The gas is estimated to be over 500 times more toxic than cyanide.
PORTAL: (see TRANS-TEMPORAL PORTALS)
SEAGUS: the Russian linguist who developed a simplified form of English consisting of 1,000 key words. His work was used to create a ‘First Contact Pack’ of five picture books which were used by the Hraffor during the initial expansion of the Empire to simplify the integration of multiple lines into its structure.
SYNCLAIR’S SYNDROME: an inevitably fatal reaction by the body’s defenses against the KVirus.
TAHLTAN BEAR DOGS: the Tahltan Bear Dog is a breed of dog indigenous to Canada. Primarily black, dark brown or blue, with some white patches on the chest and sometimes the feet. They stand 14 to 17 inches high at the shoulder, with relatively large, erect pointed ears, and a refined, pointed muzzle. The glossy coat is of average length, with guard hairs covering a thicker undercoat. Paws are somewhat webbed and relatively large for the size of the dog. Foxy in appearance, they possess a peculiar yodel. Their main distinction among dogs is their novel tail. Short, bushy and carried erect, it has been described variously as a shaving brush or a whisk broom.
TIME-FRONT: a term used to describe that point on a number of time lines which exist concurrently at the same moment of relative time. (see TIME LINE).
TIME LINE: a multiple reality caused by time splitting into a number of component parts. It’s creation is not fully understood. (see HISTORICAL INEVITABILITY and INDIVIDUAL CAUSATION)
TLATCANI: the C-TE prefer to work through existing authorities when absorbing a line, simply superimposing their own authority over the top of the original. In Mexico, the Clemhorns found a culture that while loosely based on earlier Mayan social types was unique to the Etu Line, and based around individual city-states. Generally each city was administered by a council made up of representatives of each calpulli or group of families. Each council would elect four members who would act as an executive council, with the four then choosing a Tlatcani, or council leader.
TRANS-TEMPORAL PORTALS: are a specific occurrence of a ‘wormhole’ or a Einstein Rosen-Podolsky bridge that link two non-contiguous space-time points between parallel universes (or in this case — time lines). The portal allows people and objects to pass through this gateway from one parallel dimension to another. The selection of the ‘linked’ time lines depends on how the quantum state of the exotic matter making up gate has been ‘tuned’. Travel through a portal does not change the person’s relative position in either time or space.
The first trans-temporal portal was developed by Tou Azulai at Chiqu — a small, secret research facility — during the last years of the Nayarit civilization. Azulai, an expert on string theory, had been attempting to create anti-gravity by means of the controlled application of dark energy to an underlying substrate of mono-planular-charhdian-silica (MPCS). Although the anti-gravity experiment failed, the exotic matter he had accidentally created resulted in the chance creation of the first trans-temporal portal. One of the more unusual characteristics of the exotic matter he had created was its ability to transmute normal MPCS into its exotic form when placed in contact with the substrate when in a complex, aqueous solution.
When operating, the portal requires a constant supply of electrical energy which grows exponentially with the number of simultaneous portals established between two lines. If the energy falls below a certain level the portal will collapse with a catastrophic shattering of the underlying substrate. This weakness was addressed by Dr. Kaito Langley of the Mainline’s University of Constantinople, who developed the first re-usable portal in 96 AE.
While operating the surface of a gate resembles the shimmering surface of a soap bubble because of thin-film interference.
Due to random quantum effects within the event horizon, coherent energy cannot pass through the gate. This prevents electrical signals from passing through the portal. As a result, it is necessary to place telex and fax machines in close proximity to the portal, allowing a physical representation of the message to be passed through the gate, before being re-encoded and passed on.
Despite the transfer being virtually instantaneous, the quantum effects previously noted have resulted in individuals using the portal reporting auditory, visual, and other hallucinatory effects during the transfer. One portal traveler describing the effect as “… similar to being consumed by chaos, before being spat out the other end”.
